Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood

Wellington Pantomime Group - Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood

First, we met Alan a Dale for the prologue. Then we met the two rabbits who appeared throughout the production. The puppeteers spoke well but personally, I would have preferred actors in rabbit costumes.

Alan and the outlaws gave a good rendition of Hail, Rain or Sunshine supported by the cast. Winnie Widebottom joined the stage and sang “Gimme, gimme, gimme” with the outlaws. This was a little high pitched and lacked clarity at times. So, the audience could not hear the words. This was partly due to the music being too loud. This was followed by “Put your mind to it” with Robin, Winnie and the outlaws. This was great with good choreography.

Next, we met the Sheriff of Nottingham, our baddie with his helper Dennis. The sheriff had a great costume. Their performance of “Bad” had great choreography.

At the schoolroom we had a lovely duet of “Perfect Day” from Robin and Marion. This scene was a bit slow but picked up the pace with a “Benny Hill“style chase.

Onto Nottingham Fair with a full stage and great performance of “Green, green, grass”. Sheriff and Dennis performed “You’re the Best” but the music was a little too loud and we struggled to hear them.

In act two Robin and Marion performed “Alone” with some beautiful ballet dancing from Marion. In the nursery Winne and the children sang “This is what dreams are made of “. This was lovely. The outlaws performed “Men in Tights” but very few of them were actually wearing tights. Something to be aware of in the future.

We had several scenes with lots of different scenery and backdrops. From Sherwood Forest to Nottingham Castle and the schoolroom to the Dungeon. These were all very effective and well designed. I particularly liked the rabbit’s appearance on top of the turrets of Nottingham Castle. Unfortunately, there were some slow scenery changes which lost the audience and caused the show to lack pace. There were two sets of steps leading to a nice, raised platform which was used throughout the performance.

We were entertained with some lovely songs. This show had a very large cast and it was great to see the younger performers on stage. The chorus of dancers were very good and filled the stage with great performances. We finished with a short rendition of “Green, green, grass” with some members of the cast overflowing into the auditorium. The audience were enthralled with the performance and such beautiful gold costumes. The costumes were fabulous throughout. It was great to have live music but be careful not to get too carried away as it can drown out the performers on stage.

Well done to all the cast and crew for a lovely performance. I hope you will find these notes useful for future productions. Thank you so much for inviting me and I look forward to your next performance.

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